Communication between computers has become an important aspect of everyday life in both private and business environments. Networks provide a medium for this communication and further for communication between various types of elements connected to the network such as servers, personal computers, workstations, memory storage systems, or any other component capable of receiving or transmitting data to or from the network. The elements communicate with each other using defined protocols that define the orderly transmission and receipt of information. In general, the elements view the network as a cloud to which they are attached and for the most part do not need to know the details of the network architecture such as how the network operates or how it is implemented. Ideally, any network architecture should support a wide range of applications and allow a wide range of underlying technologies. The network architecture should also work well for very large networks, be efficient for small networks, and adapt to changing network conditions.
Networks can be generally be differentiated based on their size. At the lower end, a local area network (LAN) describes a network having characteristics including multiple systems attached to a shared medium, high total bandwidth, low delay, low error rates, broadcast capability, limited geography, and a limited number of stations, and are generally not subject to post, telegraph, and telephone regulation. At the upper end, an enterprise network describes connections of wide area networks and LANs connecting diverse business units within a geographically diverse business organization.
To facilitate communication within larger networks, the networks are typically partitioned into subnetworks, each sharing some common characteristic such as geographical location or functional purpose, for example. The partitioning serves two main purposes: to break the whole network down into manageable parts and to logically (or physically) group users of the network. Network addressing schemes may take such partitioning into account and thus an address may contain information about how the network is partitioned and where the address fits into the network hierarchy.
For descriptive and implementive purposes, a network may be described as having multiple layers with end devices attached to it, communicating with each other using peer-to-peer protocols. The well-known Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) Reference Model provides a generalized way to view a network using seven layers and is a convenient reference for mapping the functionality of other models and actual implementations. The distinctions between the layers in any given model is clear, but the implementation of any given model or mapping of layers between different models is not. For example, the standard promulgated by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in its 802 protocols defines standards for LANs and its definitions overlap the bottom two layers of the OSI model.
In any such model, a given layer communicates either with the same layer of a peer end station across the network, or with the same layer of a network element within the network itself. A layer implements a set of functions that are usually logically related and enable the operation of the layer above it.
The relevant layers for describing this invention include OSI Layers 1 through 4. Layer 1, the physical layer, provides functions to send and receive unstructured bit patterns over a physical link. The physical layer concerns itself with such issues as the size and shape of connectors, conversion of bits to electrical signals, and bit-level synchronization. More than one type of physical layer may exist within a network. Two common types of Layer 1 are found within IEEE Standard 802.3 and FDDI (Fiber Distributed Data Interface).
Layer 2, the data link layer, provides support for framing, error detecting, accessing the transport media, and addressing between end stations interconnected at or below layer 2. The data link layer is typically designed to carry packets of information across a single hop, i.e., from one end station to another within the same subnet, or LAN.
Layer 3, the network layer, provides support for such functions as end to end addressing, network topological information, routing, and packet fragmentation. This layer may be configured to send packets along the best "route" from its source to its final destination. An additional feature of this layer is the capability to relay information about network congestion to the source or destination if conditions warrant.
Layer 4, the transport layer, provides application programs such as an electronic mail program with a "port address" which the application can use to interface with the data link layer. A key difference between the transport layer and the lower layers is that an application on a source end station can carry out a conversation with a similar application on a destination end station anywhere in the network; whereas the lower layers carry on conversations with end stations which are its immediate neighbors in the network. Layer 4 protocols also support reliable connection oriented services, an example Layer 4 protocol providing such services is the Transport Control Protocol (TCP).
Different building blocks exist for implementing networks that operate at these layers. End stations are the end points of a network and can function as sources, destinations and network elements or any other intermediate point for forwarding data received from a source to a destination.
At the simplest level are repeaters which are physical layer relays which simply forward bits at Layer 1.
Bridges represent the next level above repeaters and are data link layer entities which forward packets within a single LAN using look-up tables. They do not modify packets, but just forward packets based on a destination. Most bridges are learning bridges. In these bridges, if the bridge has previously learned a source, it already knows to which port to forward the packet. If the bridge has not yet forwarded a packet from the destination, the bridge does not know the port location of the destination, and forwards the packet to all unblocked output ports, excluding the port of arrival. Other than acquiring a knowledge of which ports sources are transmitting packets to, the bridge has no knowledge of the network topology. Many LANs can be implemented using bridges only.
Routers are network layer entities which can forward packets between LANs. They have the potential to use the best path that exists between sources and destinations based on information exchanged with other routers that allow the routers to have knowledge of the topology of the network. Factors contributing to the "best" path might include cost, speed, traffic, and bandwidth, as well as others.
Brouters are routers which can also perform as bridges. For those layer 3 protocols of which the brouter knows, it uses its software to determine how to forward the packet. For all other packets, the brouter acts as a bridge.
Switches are generalized network elements for forwarding packets wherein the composition of the switch and whether it implements layer 2 or layer 3 is not relevant.
Typically, bridges forward packets in a flat network without any cooperation by the end stations, because the LAN contains no topological hierarchy. If a LAN, for example, is designed to support layer 3 functionality, then routers are used to interconnect and forward packets within the LAN.
Bridges cannot use hierarchical routing addresses because they base their forwarding decisions on media access control (MAC) addresses which contain no topological significance. Typically MAC addresses are assigned to a device at its time of manufacture. The number of stations that can be interconnected through bridges is limited because traffic isolation, bandwidth, fault detecting, and management aspects become too difficult or burdensome as the number of end stations increases.
Learning bridges self-configure, allowing them to be "plug and play" entities requiring virtually no human interaction for setup. Routers, however, require intensive configuration, and may even require configuration activities at the end nodes. For example, when a network utilizes the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), each end node must manually receive its address and subnet mask from an operator, and such information must be input to the router.
Generally, as the size and complexity of a network increases, the network requires more functionality at the higher layers. For example, a relatively small LAN can be implemented by using Layer 1 elements such as repeaters or bridges, while a very large network uses up to and including Layer 3 elements such as routers.
A single LAN is typically insufficient to meet the requirements of an organization because of the inherent limitations: (1) on the number of end stations that can be attached to a physical layer segment; (2) the physical layer segment size; and (3) the amount of traffic, which is limited because the bandwidth of the segment must be shared among all the connected end stations. In order to overcome these constraints, other network building blocks are required.
As briefly described above, when the number of end stations in a network increases, the network may be partitioned into subnetworks. A typical address in a partitioned network includes two parts: a first part indicating the subnetwork; and a second part indicating an address within the subnetwork. These types of addresses convey topological information because the first part of the address defines geographical or logical portions of the network and the second part defines an end station within the subnetwork portion. Routing with hierarchial addressing involves two steps: first packets are routed to the destination's subnetwork; and second packets are forwarded to the destination within the subnetwork.
An end station receives a unique data link address--the MAC address--at the time of manufacture, allowing the end station to attach to any LAN within a bridged network without worrying about duplicate addresses. Data link addresses therefore cannot convey any topological information. Bridges, unlike routers, forward packets based on data link addresses and thus cannot interpret hierarchical addresses.
The current Internet is being forced to deal with increasing numbers of users and increasing demands of multimedia applications. Future networks will be required to support even higher bandwidth, larger numbers of users, and traffic classification requirements by the network. Statistical studies show that the network domain as well as the number of workstations connected to the network will grow at a faster rate in future. The trend is also to support multiple traffic types with varied characteristics on a same physical link. This calls for more network bandwidth and efficient usage of resources. To meet the bandwidth requirement, the speed on the networks is on the upward trend, reaching to gigabit speeds.
Network designers frequently use one particular combination of ISO Layer 2 and Layer 3 because of the success of the Internet and the increasing number of products and networks using the Internet. Specifically, in a typical Internet-associated network, designers combine an implementation in accordance with the IEEE 802 Standard (which overlaps ISO Layer 1 and Layer 2) with the Internet Protocol (IP) network layer. This combination is also becoming popular within enterprise networks such as intranets.
Supporting this combination by building networks out of layer 2 network elements provides fast packet forwarding but has little flexibility in terms of traffic isolation, redundant topologies, and end-to-end policies for queuing and administration (access control). Building such networks out of layer 3 elements alone sacrifices performance and is impractical from the hierarchical point of view because of the overhead associated with having to parse the layer 3 header and modify the packet if necessary. Furthermore, using solely layer 3 elements forces an addressing model with one end station per subnet, and no layer 2 connectivity between the end stations.
Networks built out of a combination of layer 2 and layer 3 devices are used today, but suffer from performance and flexibility shortcomings. Specifically, with increasing variation in traffic distribution (the role of the "server" has multiplied with browser-based applications), the need to traverse routers at high speed is crucial.
The choice between bridges and routers typically results in significant tradeoffs (in functionality when using bridges, and in speed when using routers). Furthermore, the service characteristics, such as priority, within a network are generally no longer homogeneous, despite whether traffic patterns involve routers. In these networks, differing traffic types exists and require different service characteristics such as bandwidth, delay, and etc.
To meet the traffic requirements of applications, the bridging devices should operate at line speeds, i.e., they operate at or faster than the speed at which packets arrive at the device, but they also must be able to forward packets across domains/subnetworks. Even through current hybrid bridge/router designs are able to achieve correct network delivery functions, they are not able to meet today's increasing speed requirements.
What is needed is a switch or network element that forwards both layer 2 and layer 3 packets quickly and efficiently both within a subnetwork and across subnetworks, and to other networks. Further, a network element is needed that can forward layer 3 packets at wire-speed, i.e., as fast as packets enter the network element. Additionally, a network element is needed that allows layer 2 forwarding within a subnetwork to have the additional features available in layer 3 routing and to provide certain quality of service for applications within the subnetwork, such as priority and bandwidth reservation.